Local 913, Episode 52: Standard Broadcast

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The Pittsburgh group Standard Broadcast formed in 2014 when pianist Nathan Jay and cellist Leland Shaw’s previous band dissolved. “He and I just got together and started writing music. The cello has such a good bass-end to it. I love the melancholy sound of a cello. It mirrors kind of when you’re doing more rock or pop stuff. It’s good to have that balance,” Jay says.

The guys first added Holly Fromlak’s drumming to their non-traditional ensemble, but eventually Fromak migrated to her specialty: the guitar. “I’ve known Holly since she was in 8th or 9th grade. She’s one of my younger sister’s best friends. When Leland and I were starting our group, we played her a couple songs and she really liked it. She told us she plays drums, and we were like ‘Yes! Come play drums for us!’ She did that for about ten months. The kind of music we were writing, she really wanted to bring in the guitar. I mean, she went to WVU for classical guitar, so she’s been playing guitar for 15 or 20 years.”

With Holly moving to guitar, they welcomed Jeff Skalyo on drums and recorded their debut EP. Standard Broadcast’s songwriting duties are shared among Jay, Fromlak and Shaw. The song “Here We Are” was written by Nathan Jay. For more on Standard Broadcast, check out their website.